Daywatch: Pritzker set to announce exit plan for Illinois pandemic rules | What to know about masks in schools | Oscar nominations: the good and bad

Good morning, Chicago.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is set to unveil his planned off-ramp from pandemic restrictions Wednesday as the omicron-driven COVID-19 surge continues to subside, sources told the Tribune. Pritzker’s move, which would follow announcements from other Democratic governors to roll back mask mandates in the coming weeks, would also come at a pivotal time for the first-term governor in a reelection year.

Meanwhile, schools across Illinois continue to deal with the fallout of a judge’s decision upending Pritzker’s school mask mandate, including the departure of a beloved Catholic school principal in Evergreen Park. Despite the steep declines in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, some medical experts warn that any lifting of mandates should be rooted in science, not legal decisions. “It’s a little bit premature,” Dr. Tina Tan, professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine said in a statement.

Finally, amid the recent confusion about school mask and quarantine requirements, here’s what parents need to know.

Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day.

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Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson falsely claimed bank funds as mortgage loan, feds say; defense counters he was simply ‘frazzled’

Patrick Daley Thompson’s federal tax trial kicked off in earnest at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, where the alderman is charged with filing false tax returns and repeatedly lying about the lines of credit he received from Washington Federal before it collapsed in December 2017.

In his opening statement to jurors, Thompson’s lawyer, Chris Gair, portrayed the alderman as sloppy and disorganized, but not a criminal. Prosecutors painted a far different picture, saying Thompson must have known that he wasn’t making payments on his debt with Washington Federal, and that he was not supposed to be claiming mortgage interest on his taxes because the loans weren’t mortgages at all.

With Chicago Bears eyeing move to suburbs, Mayor Lightfoot announces group to examine future of Soldier Field and lakefront Museum Campus

With Soldier Field’s future up in the air as the Chicago Bears eye potentially greener suburban pastures, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has empaneled a group to recommend ways to improve the lakefront Museum Campus.

The 18-member working group will set out “to reimagine the Museum Campus experience targeting year-round tourism and activation on the Campus,” according to Lightfoot’s office.

Suspected ‘ringleader’ of smash-and-grab crew charged in multiple burglaries downtown and Northwest Side, top cop says

A Maywood man was arrested Monday after Chicago police identified him as the “ringleader” of a group involved in a series of retail burglaries on the Northwest Side and downtown from the end of last year into the new year, according to Superintendent David Brown.

Brown and Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx held a news conference at the police headquarters Tuesday afternoon to announce the charges.

Column: 2022 Oscar nominations are in — what the Academy got right, and what it got wrong

The Netflix film “The Power of the Dog,” a Western drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch and directed by Jane Campion, leads this year’s Oscar nominations with 12.

“For worse or better, or at least better for next quarter’s earnings, Hollywood has made its peace with streaming,” Tribune critic Michael Phillips writes.

South Loop home that former Mayor Richard M. Daley once owned sells for nearly $1.2M

The four-level, 3,405-square-foot town house in the South Loop that former Mayor Richard M. Daley and his late wife, Maggie, owned from 1993 until 2012 was sold on Friday by the couple’s daughter, Nora, and her husband, Sean Conroy, for $1.17 million.